[Fixed]Possible causes of hardlock without memory dump/event log entry?

[novasatori]

Trying to use Windows Server 2008, and everything is running great.

There is one problem though I get random hard locks that SEEM to happen under periods of high IO (network and/or HD use + rapid mouse/keyboard movement) but I'm not sure exactly because there is no dump or event log entry.

So I was wondering if there is a list of typical causes of complete and total hard locks because, so far in my experience, its pretty unusual.

This is the only event log entry:
The previous system shutdown at 11:29:48 AM on 11/14/2008 was unexpected.

 

[Crusty]

Typically when you have an I/O failure the OS can't dump anything because there's obviously an I/O problem.

What's your storage setup?

 

[novasatori]

I just have a 300GB Maxtor and 750GB Samsung Hard Drive on the Motherboard SATA controller, no raid configuration.

 

[Crusty]

What chipset and motherboard? Samsung drives are notorious for having problems with the NVIDIA SATA controllers.

 

[novasatori]

ASUS P5Q Intel P45 chipset

The raid/sata controller is a Marvell 88SE6111, I have the most recent driver for that. I also installed the Intel Chipset drivers too.

I do have one thing that I'm not sure of in Device Manager under Storage Controllers which may just be a Server 2008 component that I have no experience with: Microsoft iSCSI Initiator

Nevermind, I just looked that up, seems to be a standard package.

 

[Crusty]

The iSCSI initiator allows Windows Server 2k8 to connect to iSCSI targets on your local networks, as long as you aren't using that you can safely ignore it.

Back to your problem, what order did you install the drivers? I believe you should do the chipset drivers before you install the latest SATA drivers, but I'm not sure. All my server 2008's are running in virtual machines, so I don't really need to worry about the drivers.

 

[novasatori]

I installed the Marvell controller in the windows installer and then installed the chipse drivers at first boot.

 

[MrChad]

Have you checked your temperatures?

 

[novasatori]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Have you checked your temperatures?

Yeah, the temps are great.

I'm really not sure what it is, I'm trying to just reinstall drivers now and switching between versions hoping maybe there is a small incompatibility somewhere...
😕

 

[Smilin]

Before anything else you need to find out if it is a spontaneous reboot, or a Stop that is unable to dump to disk.

Turn off automatic reboots on system failure.

If you come in one day and find yourself at a blue screen you can at least get the stop codes and the parameters for it.

If you continue to get 'previous system shutdown unexpected' then you are getting a reboot rather than a stop. If this is the case, know that the circumstances that could allow software (even drivers) to do this are so rare that you almost certainly have a hardware issue.

 

[novasatori]

The OS just freezes without reboot.

No bluescreen, nothing, the screen is just frozen as it was the instant it happened.

I haven't gotten it again (knock on wood) though since I went through and updated all the drivers.

 

[novasatori]

I feel pretty confident to say I solved the problem. I had a generic driver for RALink Chipset based WIFI cards, so I switched to the manufacturer's driver even tho it wasn't WHQL and that seems to have fixed it up.

No crashes since my last post and it was usually doing it once every hour or two at least.

Windows Server 2008 is a great OS! 😀